Born Into the Wasteland
by IchigogichI
Summary: Born into the Wasteland. Xavier is the lone wanderer from Vault 101, slowly losing his humanity to the wastes.
1. The Vault

**Edit: got the number of vault residents wrong**

The child came into the world, screaming and crying.

"It's a boy! A boy! We have a son Catherine! A beautiful, healthy, baby boy!" James shouted excitedly.

"Oh, James... We did it... A son. A beautiful son." Catherine stated, exhausted.

"You have a bright future ahead of you, I'm sure of it. Look at you... Hi there, I'm your daddy little guy, dad-dy. You're going to need a name, aren't you, what do you think about, Xavier. That's a good name, don't you think? It looks like they've finished the gene projection, let's see what you'll look like all grown up." It showed a caucasian man with auburn hair and blue eyes, had a look on his face of being very sorry consistently, "You're going to look a lot like your dad, see that Catherine?"

"Oh, oh, very strapping."

"It's a big world out there, full of all sorts of people, what kind of person are you going to be...?"

"James... James..." Catherine's heart monitor began to emit worrying sounds.

"Catherine, Catherine!" He looked to the instruments, "She's in cardiac arrest! Start compressions, get the baby out of here! Move, move!"

* * *

"Don't look straight into the light pal, you'll hurt your eyes... Come on over here son, come here, come to daddy. You can do it!" James called from the pen.

Xavier waddled over into the pen.

"There you go, my goodness, just a year old and already walking like a pro. Your mother would be so proud. Listen kiddo, I know you don't like it when I leave you alone, but daddy needs you to take care of yourself for a little bit while he runs to his office real quick. I'll be back in a minute." James closed him in, walking out, closing the door behind him.

Xavier yanked on the latch on the gate, letting himself out. He crawled into the toybox and began playing with the teddy. That's where James found him when he got back.

"Quite the little explorer aren't you? Serves me right for trying to pen you in." James walked over to the framed paper, "Come over here. See this? It was your mother's favorite passage. It's from the bible. Revelations 21:6: 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." He stood, "Come on, let's see if your little friend Amata wants to play."

* * *

"Happy birthday!" everyone shouted.

"You turned on the lights too fast, you've blinded the poor kid!"

"Happy birthday my son, I can't believe you're already ten... If only your mother..."

"Congratulations young man, I don't have to tell you how special this day is, now do I? Down here in Vault 101, when you turn 10, well you're ready to take on your first official vault responsibilities. So here you are. As Overseer, I hereby present to you your very own, Pip-boy 3000. Get used to it, you'll get your first work assignment tomorrow." The overseer chuckled.

Xavier just nodded.

"Happy birthday! We really surprised you, didn't we?"

"Great party Amata! Thanks for doing this for me."

"You're welcome, but your dad did most of it, I just helped with the decorations and stuff... Hey, I bet you can't guess what I got you for your birthday... Go on, guess!" Amata said with a smile.

"Something better than being able to hang out with you?"

Amata giggled, "Grognak the barbarian, issue 14. No missing pages. I found in a box of my dad's old things. Imagine him, reading comic books... I guess everyone was ten once... Well, I better let you get back to mingling with your guests." She went off to scold her father.

Xavier walked over to old lady Palmer. She always baked the best foods. It was much better than the stale fancy lad snack cakes that dad considered a treat.

"Are you having a nice party... Ten years old, my, my, seems like only yesterday your Daddy came... Listen to me ramble, you're waiting for your present aren't you?" She asked with a smile.

"Yes ma'am."

"Such a nice polite young man you are, don't ever lose your gift of speaking your mind so directly. We could use more of that down here... Here you go, a nice sweetroll that I baked for you just this morning. And it's all for you, you're the birthday boy, no sharing required today!"

Xavier heard Andy's buzzsaw going, knowing that he was about to ruin the cake. He sighed and was quietly grateful for the sweet roll Mrs. Palmer gave him.

"Andy, wait!" Xavier turned just in time to see the cake get destroyed.

He chuckled and grabbed a fistful of ruined cake, eating it and licking his fingers. He chomped down on his sweetroll as well.

"I'm hungry, and that stupid robot ruined the cake! Give me that sweetroll that Old Lady Palmer gave to you!" Butch growled.

"The cake's fine Butch, you should try some and calm down." Xavier said looking longingly at the nuka cola that Stanley was drinking.

Butch growled and sat back down.

"How do you like that pip-boy son?"

"Great, thanks, did you fix it up for me?"

"Sure did, some people think the A series a bit basic, but I always like them for their reliability."

"Thanks Stanley!"

"No problem, oh, I almost forgot. Happy birthday!" Stanley handed him a baseball cap.

Xavier nodded, turning to Amata, "What'd Butch want? I thought you were in trouble there for a second..."

"Nothing, just wishing me a happy birthday."

She chuckled, "Sure he was... Anyway, I'm glad you're having a good time, I was sure he would have found some way to ruin the party..."

James walked over to the intercom and Xavier sat in his seat, grabbing another handful of cake and shoving it in his mouth.

"Where's your manners young man!" The Overseer shouted at him. Amata glared at her father and he coughed nervously.

James went back to Xavier, "Hey, that was Jonas on the intercom. He and I have come up with a little surprise present. Jonas is waiting for you downstairs, on the reactor level. Go ahead, I don't think anyone will mind if you slip out for a few minutes."

Xavier ran down the hall, avoiding Beatrice and running down the stairs.

"What are you doing down here young man, I thought kids weren't allowed on the reactor level." Jonas said with a smirk.

"I'm not a kid, I'm 10!"

Jonas laughed, "Sure are, pip-boy and everything. You should wait for your dad, I think he'll want to give you the surprise himself."

James tapped Xavier on the shoulder, "Are you ready for your surprise?"

"What kind of surprise?"

"The Overseer gave you your pip-boy, so you're old enough to do some work, so I figured you're old enough for this... Your own BB gun, it's a little old, but it should work perfectly... Jonas found it down here, it was in pretty rough shape, took us a good three months to find the parts to get it working again. You know how tough it is to find a spring that small? Good thing Butch 'misplaced' that switchblade of his." James chuckled, handing Xavier the BB gun, "So, what do you think, want to give it a try?"

"Here? We can't shoot a gun here." Xavier said quietly, looking around for cameras.

"We sure can't, not unless we want the Overseer beating down our door. Jonas and I found a place though, come on." James walked to the area Jonas and him set up and Xavier followed.

Xavier leaned against the locker on its side, pumping the gun and shot the targets.

A radroach scurried in and he shot it in the head.

"Whoa, Jonas, get a shot of me with the big game hunter." James chuckled.

* * *

Xavier sighed, looking at Butch trying to harass Amata, "Butch, how many times do we have to go over this, harassment is not an appropriate form of flirting."

Butch growled, "Shut up!"

Amata giggled and Butch growled again, stalking off towards the classroom.

"Thanks, those guys are real jerks!" Amata groaned, "Like I get any special treatment for-"

"Being the Overseer's daughter... I get it, they're jerks and idiots." Xavier nodded walking to class.

Xavier stared at the sign, smiling when it rotated to "Procreation is your civic duty." he sometimes thought of reminding Amata, but was always too nervous to say it.

He sighed looking at his fellow students. Only thirty people were in the vault. Their predecessors seemed to have forgotten that.

"Well, you made it, ready to take your G.O.A.T.?"

"Mr. Brotch, we both know that the test is BS." Xavier chuckled.

"Listen... I like your dad, I might even like you if I wasn't your teacher. So here's what I'm going to do. If you wanna skip the test, just tell me how you want it to come out and I'll take care of it for you."

"Thanks Mr. Brotch. Let me see the results and I'll fill it out myself."

"Well... All right, here, take a look." He handed Xavier the paper that shows how to determine the results and a copy of the G.O.A.T.

Xavier filled it out so that he would be a new doctor and handed him back the paper, thanking him.

* * *

"Wake up, come on, you've got to wake up!"

"What's wrong Amata?"

"You've got to get out of here, your dad is gone and my father's men are looking for you!"

"Gone?"

"He's left the vault, I don't know how but he has... And my father has kind of gone crazy..."

"I've never seen you so upset Amata, what happened?"

"It's Jonas... They killed him! My father's men, they took him and... Oh god... You have to leave now!"

"Oh my god... Are you ok?"

"Yeah... don't worry about me, I'm sorry you had to find out like this. I know Jonas was your friend. But we've got to go now, my father's men will be here any minute!"

"You're right... But where do I go?"

"I'm sorry, but I think you'll have to follow your dad, you'll have to escape the vault. It may not be any of my business, but did he tell you he was leaving?"

"Well... He didn't exactly tell me... But now that I think about it..."

"Oh... I'm sorry... I'm sure he had his reasons. Maybe Jonas was supposed to explain things to you? But it doesn't matter, I can help you escape the vault, I have a plan!"

"How?"

"There's a secret tunnel that leads from my father's tunnel to the exit, you'll have to hack the terminal to get to it. Use these to get into his office, that's how I always got in."

"Sounds good, let's get out of here!"

"Oh, one more thing, I stole my father's pistol, I hope you won't need it, but you better take it just in case..."

She handed him the pistol.

"Thanks."

"I'll meet you at the door if I can, but don't wait for me"

Xavier grabbed his bat, and slung it across his back. He did the same with his BB gun, pocketing the extra BBs. He pulled the first aid kit off the wall and shoved it in his bag with his spare clothes and the comic book. He hesitated by his bed, looking at the teddy bear on it. He had it since he was a year old and was not going to part with it. He gingerly put the teddy bear in the bag. Xavier looked at the gun and shook his head, he didn't know what was on the other side of the door, the gun would be more useful outside. He set it in his bag and grabbed his bat, holding it with both hands.

Officer Kendall was waiting out in the hall, "There he is, hold it right there!" He got distracted by the radroaches attacking him.

Xavier took his opportunity, swinging his bat at the unguarded portion of the back of Kendall's head, knocking him down. He stomped the radroaches, crushing them underfoot. Xavier took Kendall's helmet off, and closed his eyes as he brought the bat down on the dazed Officer Kendall's unguarded head. He grabbed the roach meat stuffing it in his pack with his clothes. He switched what he was wearing with Kendall's guard outfit, he would need the little protection it offered.

Xavier walked past Kendall, leaving him to die from either blood loss or lack of treatment.

"You gotta help me, my mom is trapped in there with the radroaches!"

Xavier nodded knowingly, "Wait here."

He ran into the room, grabbing a radroach in each hand and stomping a third. He threw the two against the wall, gulping at he tore the meat off of the one he stomped. He shoved it in his pack and did the same with the other two, taking the meat off of them while they were still alive and squirming.

Butch rushed into the room as his mother left, "We did it! My mom's gonna be ok! Hey, I know it isn't much, but I want you to have my tunnel snakes jacket!" Xavier took the jacket, nodding, grateful for the extra protection it offered. He put it on over the armor breathing slowly. He picked up all the vodka in the room, feeling sorry that Butch probably wasn't eating much more this much. He shook his feelings of guilt away, leaving the vodka would serve no benefit to them, but him taking them would benefit him greatly.

He put in his headphones, even more grateful than he had originally been that he was able to load his pipboy with holotapes of baroque music and jazz. He turned up the volume, moving to his songs.

He went to the cafeteria, looking over the corpse of Mrs. Taylor and sighed, tearing apart the radroaches for their meat and shoving them in his pack. He thought it odd that dad had given him such a large pack and wondered where he had gotten it, but now he knew and he was grateful, even though he was sure dad didn't want him leaving.

He ran up the stairs and past Officer Gomez, Stanley and Andy fighting radroaches, going through the atrium door. It wouldn't matter if their meat would help him survive if he died here and he wouldn't risk fighting all three.

Xavier saw Mary and Tom Holden getting shot down and he moved around them, killing the radroaches as he went.

Hannon, the security chief was occupied with roaches by Floyd's corpse and Xavier saw his opportunity to strike, once again. He hit Hannon on the back of the head in the small exposed area under his helmet, knocking Hannon over in a daze. Xavier removed his helmet and dealt with the roaches, once again raising his bat. He brought it down heavily onto Hannon's head. He stripped Hannon's limp body, realizing he would need spares. He buckled the helmet to his pack, stuffing the security gear into it. He looked at Floyd's corpse and stripped him of his utility jumpsuit. Xavier didn't know what the natives outside valued or even if they had an economy, but he needed to collect things just in case.

Xavier picked up his toolbox, holding it in one hand and the bat in the other. He saw Officer Mack in the security office, not wearing a helmet, questioning Amata, with her father. Xavier set down the toolbox and entered the office. He hit Officer Mack in the back of the head, sending him to the floor. The Overseer ran off to the side of the room and Amata ran out, back to hers.

Xavier flipped over officer Mack with his shoe, "I was told Jonas was killed, I take it you were primarily responsible?"

Officer Mack nodded slowly, rubbing his head.

"I thought as much." Xavier said quietly, raising the bat. Xavier swung repeatedly, crushing officer Mack's skull and splattering his blood against the chair Amata had been sitting on a few moments ago. He stripped Officer Mack, putting his gear in his bag. He turned to the Overseer and looked away, going to the security lockers and emptying them into his bag. He went into the desks and pulled the prewar money out, shoving it into his bags, surely there had to be a collector or possibly it was still used.

He left, entering the Overseer's room and stripping the labcoat off of Jonas's corpse with a sigh. He found a holotape in its pocket and plugged it into his pipboy.

"_Hold on Jonas, I need to record this first... I... I don't really know how to tell you this, I hope you'll understand, and I know you might be angry... I thought about it for a long time and in the end I decided it was best for you not to know. So many things could have gone wrong and there's no telling how the Overseer will react when he finds out but, it's best if he can blame everything on me. Obviously you already know that I'm gone, it was something I needed to do. You're an adult now, you're ready to be on your own. Maybe someday things will change and we can see each other again. I can't tell you why I left or where I'm going, I don't want you to follow me. God knows life in the vault isn't perfect, but at least you'll be safe." _Xavier sighed, dad didn't know how wrong that was,_ "Just knowing that will be enough to keep me going..."_

"_Don't mean to rush you doc, but it will be better if we get this over with..."_

"_Ok, go ahead... Good-bye, I love you."_

Xavier ejected the holotape, having recorded it to his pipboy, it might be the last words of his dad he ever heard.

All that sneaking around at night, his drinking, he had been planning this for a while. Xavier flexed his hands, going to Amata and patting her on the back. He went into her father's room, taking extra ammo from the dresser drawer.

He walked over to the office, easily picking the lock. He walked to the terminal, it was easy to guess the password, even though he was acting differently now it was obvious. Amata. Once he entered it he was let into the Overseer's computer. He punched the terminal as his suspicions were confirmed, scouting reports, the vault hadn't been closed all this time. He read the report, thankful that civilization was still out there. He made a note of visiting Megaton and going in to see if he could live there, it would be nice to have a new home next to the place he grew up in.

He downloaded the notes from the terminal and opened the tunnel.

He walked in under the rising desk and went through the tunnel, pressing the button to open the false wall in the way of the entrance.

Xavier flipped the switch to the vault door as Amata came in behind him.

"I was starting to wonder..."

"Oh my gosh, you actually opened it!"

"Of course... Will you come with me?" Xavier asked hopefully.

"It's tempting, but, my place is here, the vault needs me more than you do. I'm the only one who has a chance to talk some sense into my father. Listen... If you do catch up to your dad... Tell him I'm sorry... For everything that's happened... Goodbye."

Xavier's reply was interrupted by officers Wolfe and Park, opening the door behind Amata. Amata ran off and Xavier knocked Wolfe into the railing with his bat, going to park he swept Park's legs from under him with the bat by swinging into his left kneecap and continuing till his left leg met his right. Once he collapsed Xavier kicked the helmet off his head, hitting him once with the bat to daze him so that he wouldn't be able to somehow attack while Xavier finished Wolfe.

Xavier turned and saw Wolfe supporting himself against the wall, a large gash in his leg from the stair. Xavier put his bat on his shoulder and walked over to Wolfe and pulled off his helmet, buckling it to his pack.

"Wolfe... My dad left, leaving only Jonas and I. Then you guys killed Jonas, leaving only me. I am the last doctor in this vault and I am leaving. That is why I am giving you this offer. Euthanasia, or live out the rest of your life, in a vault, with no doctors and possibly having to lose that leg of yours." Xavier sniffed and looked him in the eye.

"Fuck you!"

"Live and suffer then..." Xavier stood and faced Parks, "And you?"

Parks only groaned in agony in reply.

"Death it is..." Xavier walked up the steps, raising his bat over his head, and bringing it down on Parks.

Xavier walked back to where they had come from, he knew the location of a few first aid kits, and he would be taking from them. He picked the locks and headed out, watching as the vault door closed behind him.


	2. Megaton part one

**Edit: I took out the two distress signals for realism's sake**

Xavier looked out to the wasteland, a sea of gray and brown and he fell to his knees, vomiting as the adrenalin wore off. He sobbed, "I killed four people." he shuddered, his shoulders shaking violently.

He had decided down there in the vault that his life was worth that of four others. He breathed in heavily.

"Cheap. I underpaid for that." He stood, his jaw set, "To Megaton."

He got two notifications on his pipboy and looked through them, a mysterious radio frequency and an offer for a vacation or an adventure or something.

He shook his head and walked to Megaton, a robot at the gates signalled for it to open. Xavier looked up at the man with the sniper rifle nervously.

He walked through the two sets of gates and saw a man coming up a hill.

"Name's Lucas Simms, town sheriff and mayor too when the need arises." The man greeted him. Xavier gave him his own name and looked even more nervously at the atomic bomb behind him ,"I don't know why, but I like you boy! Something tells me, you're all right, so welcome to Megaton! Just holler if you need something."

"Nice town you got here, sheriff... It's nice to meet you." Xavier said, focusing on the bomb in the middle of the crater the city was built in.

"Friendly and well-mannered? I think we're gonna get along just fine. You treat my people nice and you're welcome to stay as long as you'd like."

"Right." Xavier said, nodding.

"I'm glad we understand each other. Now, is there something I can help you with?"

"Th-the bomb..." Xavier said, shakily pointing at it as if Lucas wouldn't know what he was talking about.

"What about it?"

"Don't you think someone should disarm that thing?"

"I don't trust any of the locals to tinker with it. Besides, most people don't even realize it's still a threat. And hell, Cromwell and those crazies from the church of atom, they worship the damn thing. Why? You think you got the know-how to disarm it? For good?"

"Y-yeah, I could do it"

"All right fine. But listen here. Just take a look at it first, take it easy. If you get the job done, there'll be 100 caps in it for you."

Xavier blinked, realizing he didn't know what caps was and silently cursing himself for not figuring it out before it came to negotiations. He didn't even know what a good amount of caps was. He decided to test that out, "Demolition expertise doesn't come cheap, I want 500 caps."

"That's pretty steep... Fine, do it and you'll get your money. Don't screw up though, or we'll all regret it."

Xavier nodded, "Hey, now that I'm helping you, maybe you could help me. I'm looking for my dad."

"I do remember a stranger coming through, he spent some time up in the saloon, you might want to talk to Moriarty up there."

"Thank you." Xavier walked off around the right side of the crater, following the metal pathways. He'd learned the easiest way to get information and came around to the backside of the building that he determined was the saloon. He picked the lock and found a piece of paper on the inside of a locked cabinet. He picked that as well and found the password to Moriarty's terminal. He wondered how stupid Moriarty was and went back to access the terminal. He found a note on his dad and downloaded it to his pipboy before snooping on the rest of the information there.

He read about Mr. Burke, deciding to talk to him later. He went through the resident notes and his eyes went wide at the first entry, some blackmail on a guy named Jericho. Xavier clenched his teeth, he didn't know this Jenny but he already didn't like this Jericho.

He found blackmail on Leo Stahl who he figured was Jenny's brother and gritted his teeth harder, he found himself liking Moriarty less. He read about Andy Stahl and had to breathe slowly to contain his rage. Moriarty was scum. He read about Billy Creel, snickering a little about Moriarty's suspicions that Maggie was a trophy. Caring for a child would be a lot of work if that's all he cared about, though he didn't know what to judge about what Billy might have done to her parents. He found blackmail on the town doctor and signed off. Ex-slaver or no, a doctor is a doctor and Xavier knew the value of that.

Moriarty would have to go before he could look for his dad.

Xavier wandered out to the bar and gaped at the man working it, shaking his head before looking for someone who fit the description of Mr. Burke. He found him and walked up to him.

"My, my, just when I had all but given up hope. My dear boy, I am very happy to make your acquaintance, I am Mr. Burke.

"Likewise Mr. Burke, I am Xavier."

"You have no ties here, no interest in this settlements' affairs. Megaton means nothing to you. I work for... Certain interests that want this town gone."

"I'm going to have to stop you there. Megaton is under my protection as of now. You're going to leave now."

"Oh ho! I didn't realize that megaton had a guardian other than its intrepid sheriff. I'll take my leave as you suggested." He made no move to get up.

"Ding, time's up." Xavier hit him in the head with the bat. His life was worth more than four, far more. How much could this town be worth? Surely more than this man who wants to destroy it. Mr. Burke fell, dazed and Xavier kicked him in the stomach, hitting him in the head with the bat again. He stomped on Mr. Burke's skull until it gave away to fleshy softness. Xavier panted heavily. The recoil from this was much less than the four he killed in the vault. But in the vault he knew those men, grew up around them, this was a man who upon meeting had proposed that he should help destroy a town.

He took Mister Burke's things, a gun and some nice clothes. He placed them in his pack which was beginning to stink from the radroach meat. He sat down at the bar and drank one of the vodka he had in his bag and talked to the terrifying bartender.

"Hey smoothskin, you need a drink? Or anything? Anything at all?"

Remembering his good manners while being startled by the bartender he replied, "Let me think about it for a moment, my good man."

"Wait, you're not gonna hit me? Yell at me? Not even berate me a little bit?" He asked confused.

"I hadn't planned on it."

"Well now, that's a surprise, I'm used to every asshole smoothskin in this town giving me shit just because I look like a corpse. I'm glad to see that there are a few worthwhile people around here. Listen, Moriarty'd have my head if he caught me selling at a discount, but for you, I'll risk it." Xavier nodded and smiled in what he hoped was a friendly manner.

Xavier sold him the vodka he had left that he got from Butch's mom and found that 100 caps was a bit cheap for disarming a bomb, but he had overcharged Lucas like Lucas said.

He got off the stool and went over to Nova, "What's the deal with Gob?"

"He's a sweetheart but Colin's really hard on him. He's been here since Colin bought him off the slavers 15 years ago." Xavier ground his teeth together. Gob wasn't a slave anymore but he wasn't doing much better.

Xavier ran out of the bar and went down to the bomb, staring at it. He needed to do this, now.

It was quite simple actually. He had it disarmed within a few minutes and walked up the hill after Lucas Simms.

"I'll be damned! You did it, didn't you? You disarmed that thing! Here's your reward. Hell, why don't you move in? Could use someone like you. Got an empty place here you can use. Here's the key and deed. It ain't much to look at, but talk to Moira, she's got some random odds and ends you might be able to spruce the place up with." Xavier thanked him and went up to his new home.

He opened the door, closing it behind him. He saw that there was a robot in it, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Wadsworth, your personal robotic butler. I am here to look after your needs and keep you happy and entertained. What can I do for you?"

"Nothing right now Wadsworth... I think I'm gonna just go to bed..." He walked up the stairs and looked around, cursing when he noticed there was no bathroom. It wasn't much, but it was home. He looked at his bare stained bed and set down his bag. He cried himself to sleep.


	3. Megaton part two

Xavier woke up, "Dad... I don't think I can go to work with you today... I..." He looked around at his new house, "Oh... That's right..." He rolled out of bed, opening his backpack, wrinkling his nose at the smell. He took a bite of radroach meat and gagged, forcing himself to take another bite.

He pulled the meat out of the bag and took it downstairs to his fridge and put it all away. He would have to ration himself and see about trading for some more. He noticed something about punga fruit with that message he got about the adventure thing and decided it was worth a look.

He shook his bag of caps, happy to have so much to start out on, he would still have to budget himself.

He went through his clothes, setting aside the armor, he would need to keep his extras as the others wore out. He picked up his normal clothes, pulling them out of his bag, he decided to sell them. His teddy bear fell out of one of the bundles he pulled out and it gave him pause. He picked it up, running his thumb over its face. The ink drawing it had for a face had faded away, so he learned stitching so that he could make a face on it that would be more permanent, and he would be able to fix it when the time came.

He chuckled, remembering when dad made him stitch up one of Stanley's cuts. Dad's comment on Xavier's stitching was "Better than mine." Xavier went upstairs and cleared off the desk, setting his bear on it.

"So, Roosevelt, what do we need to do today?" He left the bear and looked up at the roof, "Gotta fix that... And the walls... Wadsworth!" robotic butler floated up the stairs to him.

"Sir, what can I-"

"Is your flamethrower intact enough that I could modify it to do welding?" Xavier asked him.

"Yes sir, of course." Wadsworth said, one of his eye stalks bobbing in acknowledgement.

"Good, I'm gonna be bringing scrap metal in when I can, and when I do, I want you to patch up the walls..." He looked up at the roof, "We'll get to the roof later... And afterwards, cover up this shit to prevent redlung. My dad is old... He doesn't need to be breathing in rust particles." Xavier rubbed his chin and went back down to grab his bag and the clothes he wanted to keep. He went back upstairs, putting his helmets in the top drawer of the filing cabinet, the extra security jumpsuits in the second to bottom drawer and the shoes in the bottom drawer. He had made extra sure to take all the shoes off the corpses. They would be the most valuable assets of all in his outfits.

He stood and picked his backpack back up. He went down the stairs in his house and opened the door, looking back at the place. It was home. He closed the door behind himself and went down to the noodle shop, asking for directions to Moira's place. He thanked her and climbed the ramp over the doctor's office. He walked up to the door and hesitated at it. Sighing, he decided to go in, opening the door.

He glanced nervously at the Mercenary by the door and walked over to the woman he assumed was Moira, "Hey, I hear you're that stray from the vault! I haven't seen one of you in years! Good to meet you! I'm Moira Brown, I run Craterside supply, but what I really do is mostly tinkering and research. Say, I'm working on a book about the Wasteland. It'd be great to have the foreword by a Vault Dweller. Help me out, would you?"

"Sure, I've got plenty to say about life in the vault." Xavier replied.

"Great, just tell me what it's like to live underground all your life, or to come outside for the first time, or whatever strikes your fancy."

Xavier thought about this for a few moments, "It was a constricted life under the Overseer's watch. But it was a safe one, the biggest worry was a group of bullies who thought themselves a tough gang. It was quiet and peaceful... Until Dad left." Xavier sighed.

"A runaway dad huh? I've seen plenty of them before, but none with a big 101 on their back. Good luck finding him, maybe this armored vault suit will help you out there. That'll be good for the book... In fact, wanna help me with the research? I can pay you, and it'll be fun!"

"Sure, what's the book you're working on?" Xavier asked.

"Oh, it's called the wasteland survival guide. It's supposed to help people out there survive in the world and it's supposed to help us revive civilization. I need an assistant to test my theories and well, that's where you come in!" Moira smiled.

"That sounds like a great idea, what do you need me to do?"

"Well the first chapter will be on how to survive day-to-day dangers. Things like where it is and isn't safe to find food, the dangers of radiation, and how to avoid and even profit from dangerous landmines. Ooh, sounds like fun, doesn't it? What do you want to do first?"

"What do I need to do to help you with the radiation thing?"

"I need you to get a bit of radiation poisoning, so I can study its effects. Oh, not a deadly dose of course, I can fix you up before that."

Xavier nodded doubtfully, "Ok, I'll go get radiated, just be ready to fix me up when I get back."

"Ok, 200 rads should be enough for basic sickness, but if you can get 600 or more rads my tests will be more accurate. Just make sure you can get back here and I'll see that you're well taken care of!"

He nodded again and walked back out the open door and climbed down to the nuke and stood by the water it sat in, "I'm going to regret this... Aren't I..." He stood in the water and felt an unpleasant tingling where the water was touching his body. He gulped and looked at his pipboy, only two rads a second, he would have to stand there for a while and he didn't really want to do so, but the only alternative was drinking the water and he really didn't want to do that. He began feeling woozy and rethought the idea, starting to move out of the water when he blacked out.

He woke a few minutes later to his pipboy giving an alarm that he was in critical condition with his radiation. He crawled out of the pool and over to the clinic, leaning on the railing.

He let go of the railing to walk to the platform that led up to Craterside supply and fell over. He crawled to the platforms and dragged himself up to Craterside supply. He crawled through the open door, "Moira... I am in critical condition, please hurry."

"Hold on, and try not to move. Tell me how it feels, and I'll get you fixed right up!"

"Too... Tired... To be... Snide."

"You're a lucky one you know! At this level, most people don't make it. But then again, most people don't have my experimental tricks! Now, after taking a few notes, I'll take care of that nasty radiation with a bit of my homemade concoction. I've never had a chance to test it out on someone so heavily dosed, but I'm sure it will be fine-" Xavier passed out on her floor.

He woke up a few hours later on her bed, feeling fully recovered.

"Well, you're alive! That's the good news. But there was a little side effect... A teeny, tiny um... Mutation... But it seems to be benign at least. Here, take a few radiation chems, my way of saying, sorry I twisted up your DNA like a kitten with a ball of string..." She held out a few packs of radaway and rad-x.

Xavier nodded and rolled over.


	4. Super Duper Mart

Xavier accepted his payment along with his next mission, find food and medicine in the super duper mart. He figured if he did it would help him when he did the landmine research.

He heard gunshots and hid down behind a rock, two wild dogs and a mole rat slowly walked up to him, sniffing. He held out his hand for them, carefully listening for more gunshots. When he heard none he peered up over the rock to the fencing around the super-duper mart to look at three men wearing black armor, they were staring at him.

They began walking towards him and Xavier decided to shoot first, ask questions later. He unholstered the gun Amata gave him and peered over the rock, holding the gun steady. The dogs stood to either side of him growling while the mole rat waited behind them.

Xavier aimed, looking down the sights, aiming at the center of the lead man's chest. He fired and hit the man in his left eye. He went down. Xavier looked at the gun and cursed himself, he was lucky this time, but the next time he may not be so lucky, he would need to figure out how to use it better.

The dogs and the mole rat shot off towards the remaining two guys. They foolishly shot at two different animals and Xavier recounted his opinion of these men being professionals. They looked it but they most certainly didn't act it. They weren't very good shots either, completely shooting over the heads of the dogs once or twice and only hitting the mole rat once. The first dog got up to the first guy and jumped up on him, tearing out his throat.

His partner shot at the dog, disregarding the one that jumped up on him at that moment. He was lucky enough that it only got his arm, but unintelligent enough that he dropped his gun and kept fighting the dog with his fists.

Xavier came out from behind his rock and walked over to them and the dog jumped off the one that was still alive. Xavier kicked away his gun and stepped on his chest, "Hello, is it safe to assume you're not boy scouts?"

"Go to hell!" he spit at Xavier, missing.

"You first." he pointed his pistol at the man, firing a single shot at him. He was a much better shot at close range, hitting the man in the right eye. He took off their armor and examined it, determining it was better than his current armor he changed. He pet the dogs which had helped him and they wagged their tails happily. The mole rat walked up and slumped at his feet, luckily it had gotten shot by the one with the laser rifle, so the wound was cauterized. He pulled a stimpack out of his bag, taking off the plastic needle cover and patting the mole rat softly, "Hold still, this won't hurt a bit." He injected the mole rat and it squealed a bit, trying to nip at him, "I lied." he pat the mole rat and it calmed down, he picked it up, cradling it in his arms, "There, I'll name you Jimmy."

He walked into the parking lot of the super duper mart, looking at the corpse of the raider that had apparently gotten on the bad side of the guys he fought as well. He set Jimmy on a nearby burnt out car, "Wait here." he walked back to the corpse and took the gun and ammo off of it, he wouldn't use the assault rifle, but he could sure sell it as well as the ammo. He looked at the door of the super-duper mart and back to the corpse, "You must have been guarding the door." He looked back to the men who had attacked him and looted all of their corpses, finding a note that a man named Tenpenny hired them to kill him because he killed Mister Burke, "Well, fair's fair, but you shouldn't have had your little henchman trying to hire someone to blow up Megaton."

He put all of their armor and weapons in his pack with the ammo. He set down his pack and looked around. He nodded, picking up his pack and headed back to the door, "Jimmy, you wait out here." Jimmy tilted his head to the side but made no move to follow, probably more because of its injury than anything else. He motioned for the dogs to go in first as he opened the door. They growled and jumped through the opening, prowling about. If Jimmy weren't injured Xavier would have sent it in with the dogs but Jimmy needed to recuperate before it would be any good in a fight, besides, Jimmy could distract someone coming in behind Xavier.

Xavier looked at the nuka-cola machine and remembered the one outside, making a note to stop at both of them once he was done in here.

He saw a couple of raiders patrolling the store and sent the dogs after them, shooting at them with his pistol to distract them. He aimed at their center but like with the mercs he found that his aim wasn't very accurate. He got a couple lucky shots off before they could turn his way with their weapons and managed to get them both in their gun arms. He decided they were no longer a threat and let the dogs take care of them. He turned his attention to a raider that was shouting at them behind a back counter and shooting at his dogs. He switched for the laser rifle and fired. Without the recoil of an actual gun, he found his aim was much more accurate with the laser weapon and he got the raider through the throat despite the large distance. He was aiming for the chest but he expected to miss altogether. Proud of his shot he smirked and stood, looking around for anymore. The dogs came back to his side and he heard the raider before he saw it. It shot him in the arm before he could react and he hit the ground beneath one of the downed shelves, cursing. He looked at the bullet hole in his arm and groaned, sending the dogs after it. It was only one raider. One of the dogs took several shots along the way but they took the raider down, chewing on its arms. Xavier nodded and motioned for them to come back. The dog that was shot several times was bleeding heavily and Xavier gritted his teeth and looked through what he had. A couple med-x, several stimpacks and nothing else. He cursed again.

He pulled the injured dog close and gave it a med-x first. He injected it with two stimpacks and looked at the wounds, a couple of the bullets were still inside of it. He grabbed the forceps out of his bag and sterilized them with a laser shot. He almost dropped them from the heat coming off of them. He paused, looking at his own wounds and growled. He shoved the forceps into the hole into his arm and pulled the bullet pieces out. He injected himself with a stimpack and turned to the dog. He sterilized the forceps again and held down the dog. It whined. He shoved the forceps into one of the holes that still had a bullet into it and it yelped loudly. Xavier cursed, if there were raiders still left, they would be coming after him. He yanked the bullet out which was thankfully still fully intact and went to the other hole that still had a bullet in it. He yanked out the two shards of bullet. He looked to the dog, then his pack, he only had a few stimpacks left. He sighed and dialed down the laser rifle again so that the laser would be especially weak and cauterized the dogs wounds that way.

The dog yelped one final time before losing consciousness from pain.

Xavier looked to the last dog that was with him, it would probably end up being bullet fodder but there was nothing Xavier could do for that. Better the dog than him.

He looked out past his hiding spot and saw that two raiders had come out from behind the counters in back.

He went into his pack and pulled off a frag grenade that he had pulled off one of the mercs. Luckily the raiders were standing close together. Xavier paused to gauge where the grenade would land and pulled the pin, throwing it between the two raiders. They didn't notice it before it was too late. It blew off the leg of the one it was closest too and made him unable to use his gun arm. The other one it simply injured the left side of.

Xavier grabbed the pistol and fired a few shots at the raider while it was still distracted by its injuries. He hit it in the chest a few times and it went down.

Xavier stood, satisfied that he didn't need to use his dog as bullet fodder. He stooped to pick up the injured dog and carried it back to the pharmacy. He looked at the lock, it was electronic and it linked back to a terminal next to it. He was thankful for that. He hacked into the terminal, having to use a debugging backdoor built into these terminals. The door lock clicked and he carried the dog inside. He found medical supplies in the first aid kit and quickly went back to the injured dog, injecting it with a few extra stimpacks. He heard raiders on the intercom, announcing their entrance. He sighed and looked at the protectron.

He hacked into the terminal and activated it, putting the office employee ID holotape on his pipboy.

The protectron went through its activation sequence and shot the uninjured dog, instantly killing it. Xavier grabbed his gun, prepared to fight it if need be. It scanned him, found the office ID and went out into the store, ignoring the injured dog.

Xavier emptied out all the ammo and took the nuka-cola, quantum and the alcohol from the back. He heard the robot fighting with the raiders out in the shop. Soon all he heard was the sound of creaking metal and the labored breathing of the injured dog. He went through, picking up all of the valuables that the raiders stored, relieving each one of the corpses of their weapons and ammo.

He opened one of the fridges to confirm that there was in fact prewar food in it and nodded, closing it. He didn't need any of that 200 year old food. He walked out the entrance of the store and found Jimmy hiding under the car.

"Hey Jimmy, come on out, the bad guys are gone." Jimmy came out at Xavier's soothing words and crawled onto him, clinging tightly. Xavier injected the dog he carried with more med-x and began to walk back to Megaton. Back at home he set the dog in his bed and laid with it, trying to keep it warm with his own body heat.

He went to sleep with the dog.


	5. Night time plots

Xavier woke up and pulled himself from under the dog, he examined her. She was breathing evenly and thanks to the accelerated healing caused by the stimpacks, the wounds were closing up.

He started recording on his pipboy, "The dog I brought home with me from Super-Duper mart is healing well. Her breathing is no longer labored and her wounds are closing up thanks to the accelerated healing caused by the stimpacks. The mole rat also appears to be recovering well. Hopefully I can domesticate them so that they aren't friendly to only me." He ended the recording and looked at the time. It was 11:30 at night. He figured it would be the ideal time to take care of Jericho.

Jericho's shack was only a short distance from his own house so it would be easy to break in unnoticed.

He left his own house, crouching to prevent himself from being seen. He slowly opened Jericho's door and closed it behind him. He pulled a knife he had collected off a raider and crept over to Jericho's bed. He pressed a hand on Jericho's mouth, causing him to wake, "This is my town, not Moriarty's, not Simms'. Rapists aren't allowed to live."

Jericho's hand went for a nail board behind his bed but Xavier cut his throat by then and leapt back to avoid the blood. Jericho gurgled quietly before dying.

Xavier went through his stuff, figuring he didn't need it anymore. He would have to sell it all to traveling traders to avoid suspicion, but he would need the caps.

He thumbed through the Grognak the barbarian comic, issue number 7. He put it away and opened the door to the shack, looking around to make sure that no one saw him leaving.

Jericho's death wouldn't be noticed for a while hopefully. Long enough for him to orchestrate Moriarty's demise in a way that would draw suspicion away from him.

Xavier stashed his ill gotten goods in his desk, making a note to himself to get rid of it as soon as possible.

He held his bloodied knife, staring at it. He would keep it to avoid suspicion.

He wiped it clean with his old clothes.

Xavier thought about it and it would be best to kill them both at close together times.

He went out with his knife and crept around behind Moriarty's saloon. He opened the door slowly and saw Moriarty at his terminal. Xavier put his hand on Moriarty's mouth and slipped the knife between Moriarty's ribs in his back.

"Hey Moriarty," Xavier whispered into his ear, "You think this is your town do you? With all your blackmail files and secrets. I've never met such arrogance. This is my town now. Simms made sure of that when he rolled out the red carpet for me and you made sure of it with your attempts to run it from the shadows. This is your end, the doctor from the slavers won't save you, Billy Creel with his shady past won't avenge you, Andy Stahl's bar will become more prevalent with Nova not working with the men anymore, Jericho's dead so you can't use him as leverage, and Lucas Simms' law will find no justice for you." He pulled his knife out of Moriarty's back and slit his throat, setting him down on the floor so he wouldn't make a noise. He got into the terminal and removed all the blackmail files except for Jericho's. He created a new file 'All blackmail files erased' and then took Jenny Stahl's name out of Jericho's file, removing all references to the Stahl family.

He got out of the chair and left through the door he came in, closing it behind him. Moriarty would be found soon enough and he didn't need anyone seeing that he was out during that time.

He got back home without incidence and without being noticed and he sat on the stairs with a sigh. He wiped his knife off on his old clothes again and walked to Moriarty's, entering the front door for a drink and a talk with Gob.

Lucy walked up to him, "You're not from around here are you? Just wandered into town?"

He looked her up and down, "A few days ago, why?"

"Well, I'm looking to get someone to do a job, interested?"

"I need to know what the job is." he said quietly, "Gob, a beer for me and my prospective employer."

He set down the two beers and Xavier set the caps for the drinks on the counter.

"Well, how kind... And I want you to make a delivery, I've been sending letters to my family in Arefu and they haven't been replying in a while, when you get there my dad will be happy to pay you." Lucy said, picking up her beer and taking a sip.

Xavier took a drink from his before answering, "Sure, I'll do it. Where is Arefu?"

"It's a bit to the northwest of here."

Xavier held out his pipboy with the map open so she could mark out where Arefu is. She put it in and he nodded, looking at it.

"Well, I'll head out now," he held out his hand for the letter.

"Ok, thank you so much for this!" she handed him the letter and he closed his fingers around it.

He walked out of the bar at a leisurely pace, going back to the house. He emptied his backpack, sorting through his stuff as he put it away.

He set his laser rifle on his desk and picked up his pistol and bat. He holstered the pistol and slung his bat behind his back. He packed all of the stuff he took off Jericho with him and headed out through the front gate. He ran towards the marker on his map, navigating around Vault 101 and almost tripped over a Yao Guai. He stopped and stepped around its sleeping form.

He looked up on the bridge above his head and saw constructs on it, and decided he should keep down. He was thankful he had been leaving his pipboy light off. He crept under the bridge and avoided the notice of whatever was up there.

He stumbled upon three radscorpions and climbed up on some rocks to avoid them. They waited under him on the rocks. He sighed and began to pull rocks off of the pile he was sitting on, flinging them at the radscorpions. They scattered and went off to find easier prey.

Xavier crawled down the other side of the rocks and looked off to the distance where he saw the bridge that Arefu was nestled in.

Crazy Wolfgang was at the foot of the bridge and Xavier was thankful he had someone to offload his junk onto. He greeted Wolfgang, asked him what he would be willing to buy and sold all of it to him. He thanked Wolfgang for his time and money and walked up the ramp to Arefu.

An explosion went off in front of him and he paused, suddenly thinking this was a bad idea.

"Hold on, you're not one of them. I almost blew you in half! Come over here before they see you!" Xavier sighed at the old man, walking slowly over to him, "You came at a bad time, we're really in a bad way here stranger."

"Listen, Lucy West hired me to deliver a letter to her family. Is the West residence here?" This wasn't his town, Xavier didn't feel the need to put out any fires.

"Yeah, it's the last one over there, but could you check on the other people here?"

Xavier sighed and nodded, walking the five feet to the first door and knocking on it, giving Evan a dirty look.

"Hello, is that the postman? Is my Fall Catalogue here?"

"Uhh... No... The old man out here sent me to check on you guys." Xavier said confused.

"Oh, Evan King? He's such a gentleman." She unlocked the door and Xavier opened it, peering in.

There were no corpses, only two people who were entirely vertical, "Just checking on you two, have a nice day." He closed the door and walked over to the next house.

He knocked on the door.

"Hello? Who is it?"

"Evan King sent me to check on you, would you mind letting me in?"

"Oh, of course." The door unlocked. Xavier paused, though the other woman was clearly crazy, this girl had no excuse, she was awfully trusting. He shook his head and opened the door.

Seeing there was no corpses, only the woman who unlocked the door he nodded, "Just here to check on you." He closed the door and went to the West house, "Mr. and Mrs. West?" He knocked, giving a dirty look to Evan King's house, "I have a letter from your daughter Lucy here!" He knocked again and put his ear to the door, listening. He tried the doorknob and it swung open. He gulped as he peered in, two corpses were on the floor, bite marks deep in their necks. He cursed under his breath, now it was his problem.

He went back to Evan King, "The Wests are dead, I'm guessing 'They' are responsible, don't go fretting on me. Just tell me who 'They' are and where 'They' can be found."

"Wait, Ian West, the boy, was he with them?" Evan asked.

Xavier's eyes lit up, there was a boy, he wouldn't only be delivering bad news back to Lucy, "No, but tell me who they are and where they can be found." Xavier repeated.

"Oh, of course, the Family, a gang of troublemakers, they killed our Brahmin a little while ago... They're usually running off to the northwest, I can put in some possible markers that they're at on your Pipboy there." Xavier held out his arm and looked at the three markers. The one they would most likely be at was the train station or Hamilton's Hideaway, the train station was closer so he would check there first.

He ran off down the ramp, swimming across the creek and climbed over the rubble to find the remnants of a small town. He climbed down into the train station, walking to the door inside he found a pair of Ghouls.

"You're not here to steal my secrets are you?" The one at the door asked.

"No, I'm looking for the Family..." He looked over the ghoul's shoulder, "You know, you're one ingredient short of Ultrajet there, you need some help?"

"Yeah, sugar bombs... You willing to get some for me?"

"Not cheaply."

"I'll give you 15 caps a piece each."

"That's only 10 caps above market price, double that, I don't exactly live nearby."

"Fine anything to get what I need... Oh, right, the Family, there's a sewer grate back here, you can get to them that way but it's irradiated." He walked back to his box of Abraxo cleaner and jet and sat in his chair by it.

Xavier walked through the door and looked at the barrels on top of the grate. He sighed, opening the grate and jumping down. He heard skittering and pulled out his gun.

It was a mirelurk. He saw it was heavily armored throughout with one exception, its face. It ran up to attack him and he grabbed it by its shell. He fired a few shots into its face and felt a grim satisfaction when it slumped, dead. He tore off each of its claws, stuffing them into his pack. He walked through the tunnel and found a second one shortly. He took it out from a short distance, it fell, dead. He tore off the arms, stuffing them in his bag. He walked slowly, cursing when he hit a tripwire. He heard objects fall and roll past him so he ran up the hill onto the railway. The grenades exploded behind him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the floor, careful for traps now. He found a mine and quickly disarmed it, setting it in his bag. He found a couple of bear traps and caused them to close.

He moved up alongside a traincar, noting the pitching machine he looked to the floor for the activating mechanism. He found the tripwire and cut it without setting it off.

He left the pitching machine alone. He watched his feet for another tripwire, looking around for other traps. He clipped the tripwire, moving away from where the trap hung in the air.

He walked up to the pile of sandbags that Robert was guarding, "Hold it right there, no one is allowed down here but the Family!"

"Whoa, whoa, I have a letter for Ian West." Xavier held up his hands.

"Oh, the new kid. Yeah, Vance said we'd be getting someone soon, just don't do anything stupid." He unlocked the gate he was standing in front of and returned to his post.

Xavier nodded and let his hands fall to his sides. He walked past Robert and went through the gate. He went into the Meresti station.

Xavier looked around, whistling at his surroundings. He climbed up the stairs and looked around at all the people there. They were all too old to be Ian so he went through the station to the only locked door. He hacked the terminal to get it open and opened the door.

"Ian, hi, I'm the Capital Wasteland's most determined mailman... I have a letter from your sister." He held out the letter for Ian.

Ian blinked at him confused and took the letter, opening the envelope and looking it over, "Oh god... She really misses me... I'm making a mistake... I gotta go back home."

Xavier breathed heavily and realized now Arefu was under his protection by extension of Lucy.

Vance came out of his room and approached Xavier, "I see you have broken the trust of my people who let you in here by breaking in to talk to Ian... But I must ask, what was the result of your talk with him?"

"Hold on, first we have to talk about Arefu."

"Very well."

"Why have you been terrorizing them?" Xavier asked.

"We need to feed, our thirst for blood grows if we do not quench it. To the point where even the most disciplined amongst us, such as myself, lose control." Vance explained slowly, not blinking.

"Well, surely you can drink from bloodpacks correct?" Xavier asked.

"What is it you are proposing, human?"

"Arefu donates bloodpacks and you protect them from other threats, you get a nearly infinite source of blood and they get constant protection from unsavory types."

"Agreed... Take our proposal to the leader of Arefu for him to accept." Xavier nodded, "Now, about Ian West."

"He's decided to leave the Family." Xavier explained.

"I see... It saddens me that one should leave our flock but it is his choice. Farewell human." Vance nodded, turning to walk to the Mezzaine.

Xavier left, heading out to the trainyard, the wasteland sun had begun to rise and he decided that getting back to Arefu could wait. He must get back to Lucy to notify her that her brother received the letter.

He began the long and tiring walk home, realizing that with the hours he slept he would need to go to bed before the sun fell.


	6. Legality

**(A/N: Here is where I pull the douchey author card. I am in the middle of working on chapter 14, and while I am satisfied that people are reading it (more than one person, woot) I am unhappy at the lack of reviews, no one is making critiques of any sort and that annoying guy who asks for the new chapter 5 minutes after the last one was uploaded hasn't made his reveal yet, so I wonder if any of the 8/11 people who have gotten to the last two uploaded chapters are actually invested in it. I find motivation easier to come by when I am getting feedback beyond numbers and would appreciate at least one review of any kind saying that someone cares if the next chapter gets uploaded. So without further ado, my rant is over, here is the next chapter.)**

Xavier arrived back at Megaton, walking through the gate. Groups of people were muttering all around and one came up to him, "Lucas Simms is in the Brass Lantern, he wants to talk to you."

Xavier nodded and walked over there. He went in through the front door and found it was empty except for Lucas Simms, Moira Brown, Gob, Doc Church, Walter and Andy Stahl.

"Good, you're here, now we can begin. You're all here because I believe I can trust you. What I'm about to tell you does not leave the Brass Lantern. Moriarty was murdered." Lucas Simms said quietly.

Xavier cleared his throat, "Simms, can I talk to you in private?"

Lucas nodded and moved upstairs with Xavier. They went in one of the rooms and closed the door, "What is it?"

"Moriarty had blackmail." Xavier said quietly.

"I know, I found it on his computer."

"Please don't chase Doc out of town, that's all in his past." Xavier intentionally mentioned Doc's name even though he erased it.

"So Doc was one of the files erased... I take it you hacked Moriarty's terminal before he was murdered?" Simms said, looking at him carefully.

"Oh... Yes... I needed to find out about my dad." Xavier looked down at his feet guiltily.

"I see, well, I suppose that can be excused since you know some valuable evidence then." Lucas touched the tips of his fingers together, bringing his index fingers to his mouth, "Who was it that Jericho raped?"

"J-Jenny Stahl, sir, but I don't think one of the Stahl brothers did it, Leo's a junkie and Andy... Well, I don't know about Andy sir, I haven't met him and Moriarty didn't really have a blackmail file on him." Xavier scratched his head.

"Well, let's check on Jericho then." Lucas Simms walked past him, opening the door. He walked down the stairs, "Wait here, Xavier and I will be checking on something."

Everyone nodded and Gob stood off to the side, looking nervous.

"So, I'm curious, how did you manage to hack Moriarty's terminal?" he asked mildly.

"Moriarty isn't that smart, or he's just far too arrogant. He had the password written on a piece of paper in the cabinet next to his terminal." Xavier said quietly as they made their way towards Jericho's apartment.

"I see." He remained quiet for the rest of the way there.

He raised his hand to knock on Jericho's door and Xavier caught his hand, "We're coming here, knowing that Jericho raped Jenny Stahl, and I'm guessing under the suspicion that he killed Moriarty, should we really knock?"

Lucas thought for a moment and then drew his gun, putting his free hand on the doorknob. Xavier drew his knife and nodded to him.

He opened the door, ready for Jericho to jump out from behind a corner.

They wrinkled their noses at the smell.

Lucas Simms groaned at Jericho's corpse, "Damn, well, I think it's safe to say that Jericho didn't do it... Well, who done it?"

Xavier scratched his chin, "I say we leave it at this for now... Jericho killed Moriarty because of the blackmail and ran off."

"I'm not ok with that, it would mean that a killer is living here." Lucas frowned.

"With all due respect sir, I think there are few here who are not killers. The question is the type of people they kill. Now, if we assume the person who killed Moriarty killed Jericho... That person killed a man who keeps blackmail on the town doctor, and a person who raped another resident. So long as they don't kill anyone else, I say leave it." Xavier didn't break eye contact with Lucas.

"My god... You did it, didn't you?" Lucas said, sitting in a vacant chair, setting his gun by his side. He laughed, "It's so easy to see, you killed Mister Burke, who wanted to destroy my town, you hacked Moriarty's terminal so you know all about the blackmail and you know about Jericho."

Xavier set his jaw, he could kill Lucas before Lucas drew his rifle, but what would that accomplish. He would be forced out of town anyways and the town would be left without a leader. He put his knife away.

"The only issue is the legality. Deputy." he said with a smirk.

Xavier tilted his head to the side, confused.

"Please continue helping keep my town clean. All right, Jericho killed Moriarty and ran out of town. What about his body and the blood?" Lucas indicated Jericho's corpse.

"I have the only Mister Handy in town last I checked. You simply need to borrow it to clean up his apartment for someone new to move in. We'll lock this place up and I'll take the body out after dark, leaving Wadsworth to clean up the mess."

Lucas nodded, "Good, tonight then." Lucas walked out the door and Xavier followed, "I'll dismiss the others, you look like you could use some rest, after all, you have more work to do tonight." Xavier nodded, closing and locking the door.


End file.
